108. Your Body Is Talking. Are You Listening? Why Intuition Matters for Healing
Renegade Remission: Holistic Healing for Cancer, Heart Disease, Alzheimer's, Dementia, MS, ALSShow Notes
What if your body is conveying important information that you need to heal, long before your conscious mind has figured it out? When you're facing serious illness, everyone seems to have an opinion about what you should do. Doctors, family members, books, podcasts, online communities, and other survivors may offer completely different advice, and sometimes the approaches that helped one person seem to directly contradict those that helped another. So how do you determine what is right for you? In this episode of Renegade Remission, we explore the science of intuition, the gut-brain connection, and why learning to recognize your body's signals may help you navigate complicated decisions with greater clarity and confidence. You'll discover: Why a “gut feeling” may involve real physiological signals rather than being merely a figure of speech How the nervous system and gut communicate—and why the digestive tract is sometimes referred to as a “second brain” What researchers discovered when people's bodies began responding to risky choices before their conscious minds recognized the danger Why intuition can become particularly useful when a decision contains too many variables for conscious analysis to easily process Why conflicting healing stories don't necessarily mean someone is wrong—they may remind us that individual bodies and circumstances differ Five practical steps for becoming better at recognizing your own intuitive signals
Most importantly, you'll learn a simple practice you can begin using today to begin testing your intuition with small, low-risk decisions. Listen now to learn how to recognize what your body may be trying to tell you—and strengthen your ability to hear it when you need guidance most.
Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com
Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not provide medical advice. Intuition should not replace appropriate medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals when making decisions about serious or chronic illness.
This podcast explores stories and science around ALS, dementia, MS, cancer, mind body recovery, healing, functional medicine, heart disease, regression, remission, integrative medicine, autoimmune conditions, chronic illness, terminal disease, terminal illness, holistic health, quality of life, alternative medicine, natural healing, lifestyle medicine, and remission from cancer, offering hope and insights for those seeking resilience and renewal.
More from Renegade Remission: Holistic Healing for Cancer, Heart Disease, Alzheimer's, Dementia, MS, ALS
Does an Alzheimer's diagnosis really mean that memory loss and cognitive decline are inevitable? Research is challenging long-held assumptions about Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies have documented improvements in memory and cognitive function among some people with early Alzheimer's using personalized and multifaceted lifestyle interventions. In this episode, we'll examine what these studies actually found, why addressing factors beyond the brain itself may matter, and how to identify potential contributors to cognitive decline. You'll learn which areas I'd investigate first after an Alzheimer's diagnosis and what practical changes may help support brain function and recovery.
Could your blood sugar be affecting your ability to heal—even if your bloodwork looks normal? If you're facing cancer, Alzheimer's, dementia, MS, Parkinson's, heart disease, or another chronic illness, blood sugar and insulin resistance may matter more than you realize. Research is revealing connections between metabolic dysfunction, inflammation, immune function, brain health, and even cancer outcomes. And surprisingly, insulin resistance can develop long before blood sugar levels become abnormal. In this episode, you'll discover why blood sugar and insulin are important to healing, which blood tests to review—including fasting glucose, A1C, and fasting insulin—and how to recognize metabolic problems that standard bloodwork may miss. You'll also learn practical ways to improve blood sugar regulation through simple dietary changes, meal order, movement, sleep, and stress management.
What if something that happened years—or even decades—ago is still creating a physiological response in your body today? Trauma can trigger a threat response that can affect the nervous system, stress physiology, inflammation, and immune signaling years after the event occured, and research suggests that addressing stressful experiences can sometimes produce measurable changes in physical health. In this episode, we explore the connection between trauma and the body, including fascinating research on PTSD, adverse childhood experiences, inflammation, and chronic disease. You’ll learn how to recognize experiences that may still carry an emotional or physical “charge,” what processing trauma actually means, and several approaches that can help—from journaling and trauma-focused therapy to EMDR, mindfulness, breathwork, and body-based techniques.
What if exercise does more than keep you strong during illness—what if it actually changes your body's ability to heal? In this episode, we look at remarkable research showing what can happen when movement becomes part of a healing plan. You’ll learn what happens inside your body when you move, from changes in glucose metabolism and immune signaling to BDNF, neuroplasticity, cardiovascular function, and the chemical messengers released by working muscles. And if traditional exercise feels impossible right now, this episode is still for you. We’ll talk about how to find the right dose of movement for the body you have today—whether that means resistance training, a 10-minute walk, five minutes at a time, physical therapy, or chair-based movement—and gradually give your body opportunities to adapt. Listen to discover why movement may be one of the most powerful healing signals you can give your body—and how to start wherever you are.
If you’ve been treating symptoms but want to understand what may actually be driving your illness, your health history and bloodwork can contain important clues. In this episode, we’re going beyond the idea of one single “root cause” and building a practical investigation map for chronic illness. You’ll learn how to look for patterns involving nutrition and metabolism, infections, gut health, environmental exposures, medications, hormones, stress, and more. Then we’ll get extremely practical: I’ll walk you through the bloodwork I’d want to see when investigating chronic illness, including CBC, CMP, glucose, A1C, insulin, iron, vitamin D, thyroid and inflammation markers—and explain what those results can tell you. You’ll also learn why “normal” doesn’t always tell the whole story, how to spot trends and patterns in your existing labs, and what to bring to your doctor or practitioner so you can ask better questions. Start by pulling up your latest bloodwork, and listen along as we begin looking for the clues your body may already be giving you. Join my free email community for practical healing tools, research, survivor stories, and encouragement between episodes: https://TheRenegadeNutritionist.com